iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus Sales Ban Removed In China

By Adnan Farooqui on 03/26/2017 10:29 PDT

Apple has been unable to sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China for quite some time now due to a ban which has finally been overturned by a Chinese court. The ban was the result of a complaint from Shenzhen Baili Marketing Services which claimed that these handsets infringed on the company’s design patents. The Beijing Intellectual Property Office ordered Apple’s Chinese subsidiary and local retailer Zoomflight to cease iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales in the country.

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The regulators were subsequently sued by Apple and Zoomflight and after a long battle, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court finally removed the ban this week after the court’s ruling that there had been no patent infringement. It was also accepted that due procedures were not followed by the regulator when it ordered the ban.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Office and Shenzhen Baili will now take their time to decide whether or not an appeal is warranted after this latest development. Apple had also requested the Patent Reexamination Board of State Intellectual Property Office to vacate the design patent awarded to Shenzhen Baili Marketing Services and the request was turned down both by the regulator and the court. Apple may file an appeal against that ruling.

Nevertheless, Apple can now start selling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China once again, even though those models are a couple of years old now.